Stock image. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
Slovakia's population has been shrinking for the third year in a row. In addition, a rising number of people are moving out. Usually, immigration is touted as a solution to this problem.
However, according to a new report by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), an "unrealistic" number of immigrants would have to come to Slovakia to change the demographic decline. The decrease of people at productive age is hindering economic growth and increasing the social costs of the state, reports Denník N daily.
As recently as 2000 in Slovakia, there were six people of productive age from 15 to 64 per senior citizen. Since then, this number has gradually worsened. In 2020, there were only four and in 2050 it is expected to be two people of productive age from 15 to 64 per senior citizen.
In order to maintain the ratio at the current level, more than 1.2 million migrants would have to come to Slovakia in the next 15 years, according to the NBS estimate. Just to keep the absolute number of people of working age from decreasing, 280,000 of them will be needed. In the first case, migrants would represent less than 18 percent of the population, in the second 5 percent.
According to Eurostat, the population in Slovakia reached its peak in 2021 and will no longer grow. The reason for this is the low birth rate below the level of two children per woman, exacerbated by the fact that the number of women of reproductive age is significantly lower than at the turn of the millennium.
At the end of last year, the number of employed foreigners exceeded 100,000 for the first time; still they comprise about 4 percent of the roughly 2.6 million people working.
Also, the country's governments have remained rather hostile to the idea of welcoming more foreigners from outside the EU.
